Hello. I have a question regarding insurances.
I am hiring planes from the club and might be flying with planes from others.
I understand that the plane is insured by the respective owners, but me as pilot should I have an insurance as well? For damages to the plane in complement/addition to the plane insurance, to myself or to my passengers?
Any good advice on this is more than welcome.
That depends on the terms of the aircraft’s insurance!
Just check the aircraft documents – if there’s any difficulty with that – walk away….
2greens1red wrote:
Just check the aircraft documents – if there’s any difficulty with that – walk away….
I believe the question is broader than that and it is a good question – but hard to answer on a general basis.
Over and above the issue of liability, I found, for example, my accident insurance to cover all my hobbies except flying. I’d need a specific GA acccident insurance to cover that. That’s nothing to do with the aircraft documents.
It is indeed a good question, but a very broad one.
Preliminary/preamble 1: any answer must be country-dependent. There may be minima defined at EU-level but these will be ok anyway.
Preliminary/preamble 2: any answer will, within the relevant country, have to be supported by jurisprudence. Any judge presented with a non-precedented case will do their utmost to avoid giving judgement – declaring their court incompetent is one option.
That said:
-) when hiring a plane that is normally hired out – a club plane, for instance, but also the N-registered PA32 at your field – you may count on it the insurance is quite ok. It never hurts, though, to check;
-) flying a private plane is quite another matter. I would never do it except as a relief pilot to the owner/operator who must be PIC. No matter what (trust) relationship I have with her/him.
A renter is normally not covered at all. The company’s insurance covers them only, plus passengers.
Insurance (UK) covers only named parties. A renter won’t normally be a named party.
If you (as a pilot) want insurance which pays you out, then you have to buy your own e.g. life insurance.
The other scenario is where you crash into somebody, and the company’s insurance for some reason does not pay out (the CofA had expired, etc). Then the injured party will go after the company and the pilot jointly. I guess you can get insurance for something like that. I’ve seen advertisements for “renter’s insurance” in the US magazines but have not come across it here.
Peter wrote:
A renter is normally not covered at all.
I think we need to be careful with the terminology. What does “covered” mean?
In Germany, I think typically, rented airplanes come with both a CSL insurance (Combined Single Limit, that covers for damages to anything exteriour, that you may have hit, as well as “damages” to passengers) and a “hull insurance” that covers damages to the aeroplane itself. So in terms of liability, you as a pilot/renter are fully “covered”, meaning you won’t have to pay anything (except for some, lowish, excess amount).
If by covered you mean that you as a pilot won’t get any money for damages to yourself, I agree. You’ll need to arrange for that yourself.
This applies to Germany and only to my best knowledge. I’m happy to be corrected.
jfw wrote:
me as pilot should I have an insurance as well
No one should be renting you an aircraft without verifying you have your own insurance and are a licensed pilot with the proper experience in type.
In the US, I am not allowed to lend or rent my plane to anyone unless they have their own insurance, for example. I am also not allowed to allow anyone else to fly the aircraft who is not licensed. And I am not allowed to have a CFI in the plane who conducts training and may be taking the controls who is not rated for the aircraft and carries their own insurance as well.
Consider this from the insurance provider’s side. Carrier X insures a complex aircraft like a DA42 twinstar. Some owner lets some guy get in it with no ME or IR rating and the guy takes off into icing conditions and clouds and stalls the plane and crashes into a bunch of houses. Why should the insurance company cover that?
USFlyer wrote:
In the US, I am not allowed to lend or rent my plane to anyone unless they have their own insurance, for example
Who does not allow it?
There is no legal insurance requirement to operate privately flown light aircraft in the US.
I am also not allowed to allow anyone else to fly the aircraft who is not licensed
Although (as with insurance) it’s a good idea to take precautions, your ownership of the aircraft does not legally obligate you to verify the license status of anybody who flies it in the US.
Silvaire wrote:
Who does not allow it?
The requirements of the insurance carrier…violate those and you will be flying at your own financial risk.
